Note payables have long been in existence and provide a convenient medium to transfer funds from one entity to another. However, note payables, such as checks, are susceptible to fraud. Checks can be altered to represent a different amount of money or to issue to a different payee than as originally contemplated. To provide a more reliable record of check issuance, some issuers of checks create issue files that include information about each check they issue. Issue files, usually in electronic format such as text file format, contain pertinent information of a check as originally issued such as the payee's name, money amount, and date. Banks that process deposited checks can compare the information written on a deposited check with its associated issue file to confirm that the deposited check has retained its original information as issued. By providing issue files, check issuers are better assured that fraudulently altered checks will be caught before they affect their accounts.
In an effort to compare received checks to their associated issue files more expediently, banks and other financial institutions that issue note payables have implemented automated processing schemes that electronically scan note payables for desired information and compare it to corresponding information in issue files. However, current automated processing schemes search for desired information in only one area of a note payable before moving on to process another note payable, leading to efficiency and flexibility issues. Therefore, there is a need in the art to provide greater flexibility in the automated processing of note payables to protect against fraud.